GL95

I have a hard time going this far because I feel like Cynthia Watros’s Crazy Annie was one of the last great plot arcs the show had. I’m not sure anyone was as uniquely qualified to push someone with preexisting mental health issues completely over the edge as Josh/Reva were. Them all getting a fresh start outside Springfield once they left Annie in their wake would be fine.

I’d also add that while his motivations were fairly well drawn, they let Ross look like an idiot for far too long where Dinah was concerned. (Though at least that time with Blake/Ross they actually had Blake eventually put her foot down about the strain it was causing their marriage without jumping into anyone’s bed, or even acting questionably like trying to crash with AM on the yacht. I wish they’d let that Blake stick around.)

I think Reva’s return was the nail in the coffin, but the Alan/Alex recasts then bringing on Buzz (and Barbara Crampton’s Mindy and Wendy Moniz’s Dinah) all were casting decisions that made the show hammier. Putting Holly (someone generally more grounded) with Fletcher certainly didn’t help. I feel like if Reva is back in this stodgier environment where one of the conflicts is she doesn’t quite fit into polite society it makes for a more interesting story and the whole show isn’t so “loud” for lack of a better word. It all came to a head in summer 1996 in the terrible Sixth Street plot-though they then went the other way with the AM recast to go completely wooden. You had hammy Alan/Buzz/Alex/Reva mixed in with a monotone A-M. All the extremes. Not disagreeing that the Reva of it all ate the show, but it’s like they set the tone for everyone to be more like Kim Zimmer stylistically before she even came back. To me I think Marj’s Alex started the change but then bringing on RR to have the same tone as Alan was the real turning point. That Alan vs Alex battle over which progeny wins was excruciating and Zas having to play off them made Roger basically have to shift from a cooler, more calculating villain into something more blatant. (Zas was still good and the material started to really suck for Roger once Alan was back-they gave up on Roger being a real player post takeover for far too long in that godforsaken Dinah/Hart plot.)

I haven’t revisited it, but I feel like a lot was letting them both long overstay their welcome. In my recollection Edmund, who you have not met, was a fun villain for awhile since Roger was off the canvas and Alan had been mustache twirling for a decade. Or I remember being very mob resistant but decided Danny/Michelle’s chemistry won out and I generally liked PAS. The bad Michelle recast along with dragging out the Carmen of it all made it excruciating. (Side note: with the bad Michelle recast making Danny/Michelle extra dull they did a brief chem test of Cassie/Danny that I remember rooting for but alas the Manny fanatics won.) Side note: if she had wanted to really honor some history, they should have had Harley talk to Holly since she was involved in AM kidnapping Susan/Daisy for Harley and stood trial for it (since Alex convinced her that playing the grieving teen birth mother card would play much better than spoiled rich boy takes baby for his wife in front of a jury and Alex was not necessarily wrong haha). Harley had been involved in criminal charges for kidnapping one of the children involved in the past which would seem like a natural tie-in.

There’s a scene circa 1995 where Marj’s Alex barges into the yacht to do one of her shrewish yammerings about Alan to the point where A-M literally covers his ears and starts making unintelligible sounds just to get her to stop talking. There’s obviously a character dynamic shift but even at his most irritated/pissed off you can’t imagine AM doing that to Bev’s Alex (or Rick making that acting choice). I hadn’t seen any of Bev’s Alex when I first watched and the entire tone of the show is so different. When Holly completely loses it over Blake/Ross and is breaking down/lashing out for awhile Maureen plays it pretty big but it’s effective because Holly’s not generally over the top. By 1995 you feel like most characters would go on a 5 minute table clearing rant if they ran out of ketchup.

Given the casting starting in 1993 or so, it has the feel of there being a network note that GL needed to go “higher energy” or something. It’s like someone from the network noted that Kim Zimmer had been very popular and the show needed the actors to be more like her. (Or Jay Hammer lol). I don’t know if it was just a lot of actors playing off of Bev, but watching 1990-1993 after having recently watched 1995-1997, there just seems like there’s a general direction to go “bigger.” Even how Zas plays Roger is notably bigger by late 1994 or so.

Ross going shady and losing his license to get Spaulding back/beat Roger, then Ross working at Spaulding as a non-lawyer could’ve been interesting. I feel like Ross being brought down a peg would've helped the Blake/Ross dynamic (though just splitting them up works fine for me). They let the crew working at Spaulding get really hallowed out. My first soap was Y&R so I always gravitate to corporate plots.

Haha I conflated the Mindys into one actress. This is what I get for trusting my memory. I also just watched the episode where Blake/Ross have the fight in women’s lounge at the country club and it certainly solidified my belief they shouldn’t have been a long-term couple. Literally everything they argued about remained their problems on loop for years-Blake’s insecurities combined with Ross’s resistance to placate them makes them really incompatible. I feel like in most of their arguments he’s usually right about the larger issue but he goes about it making the argument in a patronizing way that fuels her insecurities. Here she wants Ross not to represent Spaulding in the Roger/Jenna takeover attempt which is too big of an opportunity for him to pass up with his fledgling practice, but he just goes on the offensive that she’s a spoiled child who just doesn’t understand needing a job. He said something about how he shouldn’t be expected to reassure her all the time, but one of the things that drew him to her was discovering her vulnerabilities. He just seemed to think he can be the white knight and it’s cured, and is personally affronted that it’s not. I haven’t watched any Ross/Vanessa romantically but I can see that being a much more enjoyable dynamic if they’d let them get back together. Vanessa would not take being patronized to.

Ben can’t also end up a killer in this scenario because the Daniel St John story was bad enough. (and totally okay with dropping that). Holly/AM hooking up at the Journal wouldn’t have made me mad-she’d be making a little strike at Blake and also Ed who basically chose Eve over her. (How he cheats on Maureen then has women battling for him…. I increasingly think even if imperfect they could’ve at least somewhat improved two mid 90s issues by just casting Marcy Walker as Mindy. I think she could’ve been good as a more hardened version of Krista Simms’ Mindy and then there’s no Tangie. Plus one of the only people Tangie had decent chemistry with was Nick.

I'm in the beginnings of the Spaulding takeover plot. Ross just let Leo know he was hired by Spaulding and got him on edge. I always enjoy Leo-I wish they'd let him be more than Roger's fixer and be more of a sleazy, lurking presence for when someone needs something shady or is desperate. The Leo/Ross dynamic is fun. Ann Hamilton as Mindy in scenes with Dylan is really painful. Nadine just hosted a get together for Mindy returning, and Mindy/Dylan/Frank is a whole lot of bland. I thought Dylan had a good chemistry with Krista Simms' Mindy and Melissa Hayden elevates Morgan Englund, but these Mindy scenes are rough. I'm a bit amused right now that Eve is living at the boarding house, and somehow she has the absolute worst room there. The decor is all stark white, and like half the size of the Harley/Lucy room that has a lot of character and the huge terrace thing. Blake and Roger reconcile when she finds him at Maureen's grave (his gravesite speech moved me much more than Ed's that came right after) then immediately realize they're on opposite sides of the Spaulding takeover. There's some irony that Blake went after Ross to hurt Holly, but ultimately it ends up being what distances Blake from Roger.

Fletcher would die of a stabbing like a character in a Shakespeare tragedy-slowly, and with many words.

I could actually see some sort of Mindy/Jenna business venture like a fashion/jewelry line and have her in some business shenanigans until the right chemistry develops, and in the meantime this would put her in Roger’s orbit which would cause tension with the Lewises and probably between Jenna/Mindy. (Or do this post Roger/Jenna and it’s at least better than the Jenna lotion plot.). But I think there’s Mindy as a fashion designer possibilities to keep her on the canvas without a love interest for a little bit-it’s actually too bad that Michael O’Leary came back so late in Barbara Crampton’s run as Rick/Mindy reconnecting as friends for awhile as they get over Annie/Nick then make a go of it might have worked. With the Ed/Lillian affair I think no one finding out initially makes sense as I think focusing on the grief of losing Mo works. But I do think it coming out and the reactions of people like Bridget/AM/Blake who all saw Ed /Mo living the life they aspired to and Ed being the “good” person example in their lives could be pretty powerful. (I wish they’d explored a little more of AM/Bridget as “cousins” and them forming a tighter familial bond over losing their idealization of Ed could’ve been interesting.

It’s my thing I harp on, but Roger was actively recruiting AM to join him then it gets dropped. I could see your scenario be what gets AM to yes. I think Bev leaving plus the decision to make Bloss a stable couple (Liz Kiefer started the day Bev left) changed the story around some-Alex setting up Roger to be AM’s mentor only to have them team up against Spaulding just seems so obvious of a direction to go, with Blake/AM working together again. If you then brought Alan into picture at that point it’s so much more interesting than the Alan/AM versus Alex/Nick with Roger in the background getting duped by Alan plot. A lot in that period just feels really cobbled together and just a bunch of retread.

And it’s human to have your own blind spots, but basically right before the emotional affair with Lillian begins Ed is chastising AM for leading Blake on and being insensitive and he just turns around and does the same thing but even has an affair with minimal resistance on his end. It’s sort of remarkable how you really don’t feel that much for him with Maureen dying. (Watching Eve be one of Lillian’s only confidants is very strange knowing what’s coming.) Even him saying in fact he’s glad Rick can’t be reached since Rick can see through him is a pretty monstrously selfish thought. God forbid he be made to feel bad.

I really can’t get over Blake not having a kid with any Spaulding, but Blake/AM having a kid even if they’re not together just has so many possibilities that develop pretty organically. Otherwise my preferred scenario for an AM kid is a disappeared at sea AM rather than being saved by Zachary, leaving Lucy pregnant and sparing us the Michael Dietz recast. (Have AM call home and Amanda tells him Lucy died so he stays away or something.) Alan only loves AM when he’s in peril, so Alan thinking he’s dead will make him love AM far more than he ever did alive which would drive Phillip nuts to come in second to a ghost. Lucy moves into the Bauer house because she doesn’t want to deal with the Cooper/Spaulding feud, and Rick tries to make himself a candidate for raising the baby but just ad he gets his hopes up AM returns. Rick Hearst comes back for two weeks just in time for the kids’ birth and he and Lucy move to San Cristobal where’s been holed up.